Josuke higashikata (JoJolion)
The tentatively-named Josuke Higashikata is the main protagonist of Part VIII: Jojolion.
Appearance/Personality
The protagonist is a tall, muscular man who resembles Jotaro Kujo, but his wardrobe consists of what seems to be a sailor suit. He also has a star-shaped birthmark in his shoulder and (to the astonishment of Yasuho Hirose) four testicles. He also presents diastema. Oddly enough, Yasuho mentions that he bears a resemblance to her dog Josuke.
The protagonist is an amnesiac and as such does not remember his life and personal traits before meeting Yasuho, and sometimes becomes nostalgic about this. He is very serious and a detailed observer, capable of accurately describing the physical characteristics of any object, including its color, length, and measures.
The protagonist also has a childish ignorance of common things, likely a result of his advanced amnesia. For instance, he favors sleeping underneath a whole mattress rather than bedsheets for its "increased compression". Yasuho is able to use his naivety for comic relief.
Synopsis
The protagonist was found buried underground and naked by Yasuho near the Wall Eyes in Morioh. He shows symptoms of amnesia, as he is unable to idenify himself or his residence. After a short fight with Joushuu Higashikata, he was sent to a hospital and later escaped using his stand, Soft & Wet. Following the brand of his hat, he and Yasuho visit the shop that the hat was purchased from and from there, they were able to find the name Yoshikage Kira and his address. When they enter the apartment they found a nice and tidy place.
However, they also found a naked girl in the bathroom whom Yasuho assumed was Kira's girlfriend. The girl did not answer at first, glaring at them before Yasuho found a photo album with pictures of tied women. Assuming that this was the protagonist's doing, she becomes disgusted and leaves him.
Trying to find an answer about that room, the protagonist continues to question the naked woman only to be responded with hostility and questions of a speedy rescue, mentioning that he was once in the apartment but he escaped. Soon he learns of a stand user in the upper room who wants to kill both of them before plotting, finding, and pummeling the stand user (who assumed that the protagonist was Kira) before finding out that real Yoshikage Kira had died with his apparent body hidden in a body of water near the Wall Eyes.
After the fiasco, he is taken to live with the Higashikata family, under the name Josuke Higashikata. As a new member of the Higashikata family (much to Joushuu's dismay), Josuke is hired to take care of Daiya Higashikata, who suffers from blindness. After helping her make tea, she tells him to "act natural" before having a piece of her leg destroyed, much to Josuke's confusion.
After Yasuho's excavation, he finds himself in the midst of Daiya's stand (which causes memory loss) before feigning being seduced by Daiya (who tries to have sex with him despite their age difference) and getting her to step on his shadow in order to get most of his memories back.
With Daiya's help, he soon finds out what is in the room that he was prohibited from entering, and learns of Yoshikage Kira's distant relation to the Higashikata family through the Joestar family. Yasuho also returns with a DNA result that reveals that the protagonist's and Kira's bodies are a 95.8% match, which seems to conclude that they are the same person.[1]
Through further observation, the protagonist learns that Kira's mother, Holly Joestar-Kira is still alive and currently working at a hospital. However, on his way to her job, he encounters someone with a motorcycle helmet (as well as a mangy cat with the kanji for "meat" on its head), before being told by his GPS to "go right", which puts him in a loop.
Real identity
The real name of this character is unknown. The second chapter stated that his name could be Yoshikage Kira, but he later doubts about it, thinking that the enemy in the upper room is the real Kira. It is later revealed that neither he nor the man attacking him is Yoshikage Kira; he has no known name at this time and is given the name "Josuke Higashikata" by Norisuke Higashikata IV.
Major Battles
- Josuke vs Sasame Ojirou
- Josuke vs Daiya Higashikata
- Josuke with unknown ally vs unnamed automatic stand
Trivia
- The first name he is referred to is a throwback reference to Part IV Main Antagonist, Yoshikage Kira. In Chapter 3, when his apartment is visited, other references to the villain can be found, such as a collection of nail clippings. When he is given the name "Josuke Higashikata", his name is written in a different kanji (定助, instead of 仗助) than that of the Part IV protagonist's. Of note is that this name is pronounced the same as Norisuke IV's birth name.
- The protagonist's amnesia and initial identification with "Yoshikage Kira" draws a parallel to Under Execution Under Jailbreak, in which Kira is shown to be a wandering ghost with no knowledge of his identity or his whereabouts. The shared name with the Part IV protagonist becomes another throwback reference to Part IV.
- The brand of his hat is SBR, a clear reference to the Steel Ball Run.
- If his name truly were Yoshikage Kira, then he would be the first main protagonist with the name of a past antagonist. The first main protagonist in the series without the JoJo reference is Gyro Zeppeli.
- His amnesia with regards to his own identity seems to reference Rohan Kishibe's Heaven's Door, which is capable of reading memories of a target that do not also belong to Rohan himself.
References
- ↑ JoJoLion Chapter 8: Page 33
